Home Conference
PSSC 2

Thank You, Austin! Hello, Knoxville! National Conference News and Updates

We are pleased to announce that CCHA will be partnering with Pellissippi State Community College to hold the 2024 National Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee! The specific dates are still being settled, so be on the lookout for more information.

We would also like to take a moment to thank the good people of the Austin Community College District for their hard work in putting on an incredible conference experience! Additionally, a big thank you to all of you who joined us for a great conference punctuated by some great nightlife. Thank you, Austin!

Austin
Conf Web

2023 Conference Attendees: A Message from Executive Director Rusnak

From the CCHA Executive Director, Andrew Rusnak

CCHA National Conference, Austin Community College, October 12-14th

Austin City Limits Music Fest will be in full swing as community college humanities professors from around the country descend on Austin Community College and the Hilton Embassy Suites October 12-14 to celebrate CCHA’s 2023 National Conference. A vibrant, cultural city, Austin is perfect for foodies and music lovers. Our very gracious hosts at Austin Community College are working extremely hard to bring you a memorable academic and social experience. We hope that when you depart, it’s with lots of useful takeaways, connections to new friends, meaningful experiences, and reconnections with old acquaintances.

For planning, several items I would like to bring your attention to as well as ask for your patience:

  • If you plan to attend the Thursday night reception at the host hotel and wish to imbibe, please bring cash, as it’s a cash bar only.
  • On Friday, starting at 7am and running until 6pm, there will be a 40-seat bus that circulates from the hotel to ACC’s campus. The distance is about 2.5 miles on the street and one run will take approximately 7 minutes depending on traffic. On Saturday, a 24-seat bus will run from 7am to 3pm. Since it is a very busy weekend in Austin, shuttle services were limited, and this is all we could secure. There will be no shuttle service for Thursday workshops. The walk is estimated to be 21 minutes. Directions for hikers: Austin Community College: Highland Campus to Embassy Suites by Hilton Austin Central – Google Maps.
  • Since we will not be able to have lunch concurrent with the plenary sessions on Friday and Saturday, we ordered a variety of sandwich type options for both days in order to expedite the one-hour time we will have to actually dine before moving into the plenary session area. ACC has a great on-campus catering service and will provide a number of meat and vegetarian options.
  • Transportation from the Airport. There are a number of public options: “There are several bus services available at the airport, including Capital Metro, Greyhound, and Megabus. Capital Metro offers several bus lines that run from the airport to downtown Austin, including Route 20, Route 100, and Route 350. These lines operate daily and have frequent departures throughout the day.” There also are shared ride options that are allowed to pickup near your gate: “Rideshare Pickup/Dropoff Instructions for Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft can drop you off at the departure level, along side regular passengers and taxis. Notify your driver of the airlines and preferably the terminal upon entering the airport premises.”
  • We hope that you make time to get out and explore the wonderful City of Austin. Getting around the city, there are a number of options: “The best way to get around Austin is by bus and light rail. Some travelers recommend a car; however, the expense and pains of one are enough to encourage many visitors to use Capital Metro – Austin’s public transit system.” Here is the link to the city’s Bus, Metro Rail, and Express Options, a great site for scheduling: Schedules & Maps – CapMetro – Austin Public Transit. Uber and Lyft also are available, as well as cab service:

Cost of a taxi in Austin

  1. Base fare: $2.50 (€2.20)
  2. Price per km: $1.50 (€1.30)
  3. Yellow Cab Austin: +1 512 452 9999
  4. Austin Express Cab Service +1 512 666 41410
  5. Pronto Rides: +1 512 580 3779

You won’t have to go far to explore much of what Austin has to offer. As mentioned above, the music festival will be in full throttle the weekend of our conference. Build in “sitting in traffic” at peak times. Austin ranks very low when it comes to overall and violent crime in major US cities and is considered one of America’s safest. That said, always be cognizant of your immediate surroundings. Practice situational awareness and follow all necessary protocols for guarding your safety and personal possessions. Here are a couple of ideas for fun:

Austin Visitor Guide
Digital Austin Visitor Guide

Sixth Street (Music Row)
Sixth Street is distinctly Austin. With its colorful and bustling array of bars, restaurants and entertainment venues, it’s a sure bet for experiencing local characters and the vibrancy of the city.
Guide to Austin’s 6th Street (6street.com)

 Austin Attendee Guide
Attendee Guide

Austin restaurants and Bars Guide
Best Austin Restaurants & Bars Guide – Cookie and Kate

21 Best Restaurants in Austin
The 21 Best Restaurants in Austin for an Epic Meal (timeout.com)

Austin Museums
10 Cool Museums to Visit in Austin | Visit Austin, TX (austintexas.org)

Cool Things to Do
Things To Do in Austin, Texas (austincityguide.com)

Discounts Around the City
Austin Insider Deals 

Deadline

Call for Proposals Submission Deadline Extended and Acceptance on a Rolling Basis

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Proposals accepted on a rolling basis through June 15th.

Baltimore, MD. May 1, 2023 – According to conference organizers, this year’s Community College Humanities Association’s (CCHA) National Conference theme of “humanistic inquiries …[into] questions of value, power, community, identity, race, justice, healing, conflict, and transformation” is already providing a solid foundation to programming with many intriguing proposals that will surely inspire colleagues.

Now, in collaboration with organizers at the Austin Community College District which opened up more space, CCHA has a new opportunity to expand this year’s conference forum and celebrate a broad range of unique proposals that extend to every reach of the humanities in community colleges. So, please consider submitting a proposal and joining us for the conference.

Continue reading Call for Proposals Submission Deadline Extended and Acceptance on a Rolling Basis →

NHA Primary Icon Logo

Call for Proposals: NHA National Humanities Conference in Indianapolis, IN (10/25-29)

The 2023 National Humanities Conference Call for Proposals is open until April 3rd!

Co-hosted by the National Humanities Alliance and the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the National Humanities Conference brings together representatives from colleges, universities, state humanities councils, cultural institutions, and other community-based organizations to explore approaches to deepening the public’s engagement with the humanities. The conference will be held October 25-29 in Indianapolis. With the help of our partners at Indiana Humanities, we look forward to a conference that offers ample opportunities to engage with local and regional culture and history.

In keeping with the state motto of Indiana, “The Crossroads of America,” the 2023 conference theme is “Crossroads.”

Crossroads are places of choice and possibility—creative, reflective, and forward-looking—and we invite proposals that consider how the public humanities have arrived at their current place, what that place looks like to us today, and where we wish to go from here. We especially encourage proposals that engage humanities practitioners, professionals, and scholars/academics to discuss shared or aligned destinations as well as proposals that explore and delineate how and why we diverge.

View the full CFP

We encourage you to submit proposals and recruit others to do the same! Please contact Edward Moreno at events@statehumanities.org with any questions or for support in submitting a proposal.

Mandel Center Exterior

Free Registrations and Travel Grants for 2022 in Cleveland!

We are pleased to announce that the first 50 people to register for the conference will be reimbursed their fees–thanks to a generous grant from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. (Funds will be distributed at the conclusion of the conference.) What’s more, during the conference we will be awarding as many as 50 additional travel grants of up to $800 each to cover attendees’ travel expenses. Be on the lookout for further communications from CCHA on this opportunity!

 

Save the Date CCHA National Conference 2022 eCard

CFP Deadline Extended to 8/31

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS EXTENDED TO 8/31!

As we have all had difficulties teaching during the pandemic, we are extending the CFP deadline through the summer to allow folks ample time to relax and put their proposals together. The deadline for submissions is now Wednesday, August 31st! We hope to see all of our friends and colleagues in Cleveland, Ohio, for the conference this October 13-15 hosted by Cuyahoga Community College. The theme for this year’s conference is Truth, Justice, and the Humanities Way. More information concerning conference registration and hotel arrangements is currently available on the CCHA website, here.

Furthermore, we are pleased to announce that the first 50 people to register for the conference will be reimbursed their fees–thanks to a generous grant from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. (Funds will be distributed at the conclusion of the conference.) What’s more, during the conference we will be awarding as many as 50 additional travel grants of up to $800 each to cover attendees’ travel expenses. Be on the lookout for further communications from CCHA on this opportunity.

Proposals can be submitted at the following link or by clicking on the image below: www.tri-c.edu/CCHAproposals

The session tracks for the conference are The Arts; Civic Engagement and Democracy; Critical Thinking; Culture & Diversity; Digital Humanities; Environmental Issues; Evaluating Media & Informational Literacy; Social Justice; STEMM/STEAM; and the Traditional Humanities.

AU CMES Logo

Conference Opportunity: “Internationalizing the Curriculum”

The University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Center for Latin American Studies are sponsoring a program specifically for community college educators within the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language, and Literacy’s conference “Internationalizing the Curriculum: The Role of Intercultural Competence.” The full conference is in Tucson, Arizona, from January 23-26; the community college-focused program is Saturday, January 25 and Sunday morning (post-session), January 26. For more information, go to:  https://icc.arizona.edu/.